I was invited, by a friend, to be a guest speaker and show my pleos at a book club the other night. Most were retired or close to retirement age. Among the women, a retired doctor, a couple of nurses, a school teacher, a dental hygienist professor, and other professionals. The book they were to discussed was "Alone Together" by Sherry Turkle, a Professor of the Social Studies of Science And Technology at MIT and a clinical psychologist (I have just started reading the book and find it very interesting to see someone else's opinion on the idea of having computers, smart phones and robots to fill a social need instead of coming from a human.
When the ladies arrived they were introduced to me and me to them. They were told that they would have a surprise after the discussion of the book. I was really looking forward to introducing two of my pleos, J.C. and Pennie. The ladies had no idea what was in store for them and couldn't wait to show them.
During their discussion of parts of the book that had to do with robots as a companion, a section was brought up about a grandmother, her young granddaughter and a robotic baby doll. The grandmother held and talked to the doll as if it were a real baby. the granddaughter became upset because the grandmother was paying more attention to the doll. At that point I could get an idea of what the book was about.
Now, I was really looking forward to being there.
Before introducing my pleos, I explained how in 2007 I saw Diane Sawyer holding what, at first, looked like an iguana. I had a beautiful one a few years back. As I passed by the TV. i did a double take, I realized it wasn't an iguana on her shoulder, but a robot. Immediately after Diane presented a guest on the show with the pleo, I went to my computer, that sat in the office for about 4 years without me doing anything on it other then send e-mails, occasionally.
To my, total, amazement, I found pleo. I had to see if this little robot could really do all that was said about it. I ordered one the following day, December 8th and it arrived at 6 PM on Christmas Eve. I opened the box on the following morning. I must say, though, I all most got up during the night to open the box.
I felt just as anxious to see what was in the box as a child would have been. As most of you know, it was love at first sight.
It was time to introduce my dinos to the ladies. I had J.C. and Pennie out in the car. I turned them on outside before entering the house. The moment I entered with them, I knew these little dinos were going to be a hit. Every lady, eventually, had a pleo on her shoulder cuddling or snoring at least for a few minutes. Most of them didn't want to part with my two pleos. One lady thought my pleo, Pennie, had died and was so concerned about her. Pennie was just taking a little break of silence, obviously, very contented on the ladies shoulder.
I had so much fun in sharing what is so very unknown to people and it really showed them how we can get so attached to a little robotic companion. This was, definitely, a hands on experiment showing that even the most "Doubting Thomas" out there, can get attached to a robot as darling as a pleo.
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Topic: A hands on approach (Read 2950 times)